GENERAL UPDATES

General

When activating the “Ultimate Status” communication, Symmetra now reports the number of charges left on her teleporter

When activating the “Needs healing” communication while targeting a teammate, Ana, Lúcio, Mercy, and Zenyatta will now tell allies to group up to receive healing. A marker will also appear above the player’s head, allowing teammates to locate the healer more quickly

Added Torbjörn as an AI-controlled hero in Practice vs. AI, Play vs. AI, and Custom Game modes

Sit and laugh emotes are now unlockable for all heroes

New Legendary skins have been added for Reinhardt

Competitive Play

Skill rating is now measured on a 1-5000 scale instead of the former 1-100 scale

Skill Rating Tiers

Players will now be assigned to a tier, depending on their skill rating

Bronze – 1-1499

Silver – 1500-1999

Gold – 2000-2499

Platinum – 2500-2999

Diamond – 3000-3499

Master – 3500-3999

Grandmaster – 4000-5000

In Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond tiers, a player will not drop out of their tier even if their skill rating falls below the cutoff

In Master and Grandmaster tiers, a player whose skill rating falls below the tier’s minimum will be moved to a lower tier

Players that have reached the Master and Grandmaster tiers must be within 500 Skill Rating of their groupmates

Players that are Diamond-tier and below must be within 1000 Skill Rating of their groupmates

Skill Rating Decay

Players in Diamond, Master, and Grandmaster tiers that haven’t participated in a competitive match for 7 days will lose skill rating

Players with a skill rating above 3000 (Diamond tier or higher) will lose 50 rating points every 24 hours, but their rating will not fall below 3000

Competing in a single match will halt skill rating decay

Players that haven’t participated in a competitive match for 7 days will immediately drop out of the top 500

Map Changes

Several refinements have been made to the time bank system for Hanamura, Temple of Anubis, and Volskaya Industries

The time bank system has been added to Dorado, Hollywood, King’s Row, Numbani, Route 66, and Watchpoint: Gibraltar

Time granted for taking objectives on Dorado, Hanamura, Hollywood, King’s Row, Numbani, Route 66, Temple of Anubis, Volskaya Industries, and Watchpoint: Gibraltar has been reduced from 5 minutes to 4

Competitive Points

Existing competitive points saved from Season 1 will be multiplied by 10

After winning a competitive match, players will now receive 10 competitive points (instead of 1)

Players will now receive 3 competitive points for a draw

The cost of golden weapons has also been multiplied by 10 – from 300 to 3000

A soft cap is being placed on the number of competitive points that can be saved

Players with more than 6000 points at the start of season 2 will no longer accrue points by playing competitive matches

End-of-season rewards will still be granted to players at the soft cap

Instead of going into Sudden Death, tied competitive matches will now result in a draw

Players must now win at least 50 competitive matches to be eligible for a spot in the top 500

Players must now complete more matches to clear their penalty status for leaving a competitive match early

HERO BALANCE UPDATES

General

Ultimates that consume the ultimate meter when activated will now drain the meter more quickly (.25 second instead of 1 second)

Reverted a recent change that reduced the size of heroes’ projectiles

Most hero abilities will no longer interrupt quick melee attacks

Ultimate abilities will now interrupt quick melee attacks

Developer Comments: Altering the size of projectiles in flight had too many unintended side effects to keep in the game, at least in its current form. We will continue watching this and make additional changes if necessary. We’re also making quick melee more consistent when interacting with enemy abilities.

D.Va

Defense Matrix

After being activated, Defense Matrix will begin regenerating following a 1-second delay (formerly .5 seconds)

Hanzo will now experience a 30% decrease in speed while aiming (formerly 40%)

Maximum projectile speed has been increased by 30%

Arrow size has been reduced by 33%

Developer Comments: Hanzo has the potential to deal a lot of damage, but he can feel really inconsistent, even at a medium distance. By increasing the projectile speed, we’re extending his reliable range, making it easier to land shots without having to perfectly predict enemy movement. To compensate for the increased projectile speed, we’ve decreased the size of his arrows, meaning his shots now require a bit more accuracy.

Duration of Genji’s ultimate has been reduced from 8 seconds to 6 seconds

Developer Comments: Genji was a little too difficult to pin down, and these changes will balance his speed. Swift Strike no longer cancels the recovery time from a quick melee attack, so players will no longer be able to get a free melee attack before using Swift Strike. Lastly, Dragonblade’s duration was long enough that it often felt too difficult to reasonably counter.

Lúcio

Amp It Up

The boosting of movement speed has been decreased by 30% (from a 100% increase to a 70% increase)

Developer Comments: Thanks to Lúcio’s speed increase, he was almost a must pick in every lineup.

McCree

Deadeye

Now drains over a .25-second period (instead of displaying a 50% reduction on the ultimate meter when activated and 0% when confirmed)

Developer Comments: If players managed to counter or avoid McCree’s ultimate, it would often regenerate very quickly since only half of the ultimate charge was spent. Now, this ultimate works like every other ultimate that has a duration.

Mei

Blizzard

Projectile now pierces barriers

Radius has been increased from 8 meters to 10 meters

Developer Comments: Mei has an interesting toolkit, but her ultimate often felt like it was too difficult to use effectively. Consequently, it felt weak compared to many other ultimate abilities. The freeze effect has been piercing barriers for some time now, but the projectile would still be blocked. Now, you can throw it down exactly where you want it, so it’s much easier to utilize the full radius effectively.

Mercy

Caduceus Staff

Healing Beam

Healing-per-second has been increased by 20%

Resurrect

Resurrected allies will be able to maneuver after 2.25 seconds (reduced from 3 seconds)

Developer Comments: Resurrection now allows teammates to jump back into the fight more quickly, which should help Mercy survive after activating her ultimate. Mercy’s healing is also getting a boost to solidify her role as a strong, single-target healer.

Roadhog

Chain Hook

If the hooked target isn’t in Roadhog’s line of sight when retracting the hook, they will be moved back to the position where they were originally hooked

Developer Comments: This change means that hooked targets will be less likely to slide along walls, potentially ending up in an odd place after they’ve been reeled in.

Developer Comments: These changes will make burst-firing feel more reliable and increase his effectiveness at longer ranges.

Zenyatta

Orb of Discord

The amount of damage amplified by a target with Orb of Discord has been decreased from 50% to 30%

Orb of Destruction

Damage has been increased from 40 to 46

Developer Comments: Zenyatta is in a far better place since the last update, but the strength of Orb of Discord has turned him into an almost mandatory pick. These changes reduce Orb of Discord’s effectiveness, but his damage-dealing potential has been increased. The amount of damage that he delivers should feel largely unaffected by the change.

MAP BALANCE CHANGES

Watchpoint: Gibraltar

Watchpoint: Gibraltar’s first checkpoint has been removed

Developer Comments: The balance changes that were implemented in previous patches have eliminated the need for Watchpoint: Gibraltar to have an extra checkpoint.

USER INTERFACE UPDATES

General

A new “Allied Health Bars” option has been added (Options > Controls)

Contextual menus have been added on the hero selection screen, giving players the ability to report or group up with other players

Welcome to Season 2 of Competitive Play

Once again, it’s time to put your Overwatch skills to the test—the second season of Competitive Play starts today! Before you get started on your placement matches, we wanted to give you the rundown on some of the updates we’ve made since the end of season.

For season 2, we’ve retooled the skill rating system. Instead of measuring player ratings on a 100-point scale, skill ratings will now range from 1 to 5000. This expanded scale should give players more detail about how their skill rating changes on a game-by-game basis.

We’re also implementing skill rating decay. Now, players with a skill rating above 3000 will need to stay active in order to maintain their status. If they aren’t able to complete at least one competitive match every 7 days, they will lose 50 points from their skill rating for every 24 hours they’re out of the action. The decline will stop once the player completes a competitive match, and their skill rating won’t drop below 3000.

In season 1, skill rating became a central part of nearly every conversation about Competitive Play. Because skill rating was the only gauge players had for their relative performance, and because the number constantly fluctuated throughout the season, changes in value could be frustrating. We didn’t intend for competitive players to focus on that one number, and so this season, we’re introducing seven discrete skill tiers. Depending on their skill rating, players will fall into one of these tiers, but climbing into the next tier is possible as you improve.

Here’s the breakdown:

Each tier has a unique icon that will be displayed next to a player’s name, so you’ll be able to size up your competition at a glance. A detailed breakdown of the skill tiers, along with icons and information about the corresponding skill ratings can be found by pressing the “Information” button under the Competitive Play menu.

For most skill tiers, players won’t be moved down at any point during the season after they’ve been promoted into a new tier—even if their skill rating falls below the cutoff. However, players in the Master and Grandmaster tiers need to maintain the minimum skill rating, or they’ll be moved into a lower tier.

In an effort to help provide a fair play environment across all skill levels, we’re implementing grouping restrictions in Competitive Play. In most tiers, players will be unable to group if they have a skill rating difference of more than 1000 from their potential group mates. However, in the Master and Grandmaster tiers, the difference will need to be less than 500, and players who are Diamond-tier or above cannot group with someone who is completing their placement matches.

Sudden Death is being removed this season, and we’ve incorporated an improved version of the time bank system that we’ve been using for Overwatch’s Assault maps into our Escort and Assault/Escort maps. If you’re not familiar with the system, here’s how it works.

Throughout the match, the game keeps track of how much time each team has left on the clock. When a competitive match is tied after both teams have played one round on offense and one on defense, a new attack/defend rotation will be played using the time bank system. The amount of time that each team will have for the second round depends on how much time was left on the clock at the end of their previous round.

When the second round is initiated, teams with less than 60 seconds remaining will have their time increased to 60 seconds, and an equal amount of time will always be added to the opposing team’s clock. Also, on Assault and Assault/Escort maps, it’s possible for the match to end in a draw if both teams are tied when the clock expires.

The overall round length of each competitive match has also been shortened by 60 seconds, which means players will have less time to capture points and escort payloads in the second season.

If you’d like to know more about the system, you can find a detailed breakdown over on the forums.

We’re also updating our Competitive Point system. In season 2, players will now receive 10 points for winning a game. The cost of Golden Weapons will also be multiplied by 10, meaning that golden weapons will now cost 3,000 Competitive Points instead of 300. This increase allows us to reward players for participating in Competitive Play when the match ends in a draw.

Also, we’re adding a soft cap to the number of Competitive Points that players can accrue. Once a player has collected 6,000 points, they will no longer accumulate points by winning games. They will, however, be granted the end-of-season rewards.

The Top 500 system is also undergoing a little refinement. In season 2, players will need to win at least 50 games to be eligible for a spot in the Top 500, and they’ll also need to remain active throughout the season if they want to hold on to their spot. Anyone who hasn’t played a competitive match within seven days will automatically drop out of the Top 500.

Throughout the first season, one of the biggest pieces of feedback that we received had to do with people leaving during competitive games. Leaving is something that we want to actively discourage, and we’re rethinking the penalties that occur when someone leaves a competitive match.

We recently added a 10-minute penalty for any players who leave an in-progress match, and starting in season 2, players will need to complete more matches without leaving before their account is returned to good standing.

Now that you’re up to speed on the latest changes to Competitive Play, it’s time to put your skills to the test. Season 2 is live right now on PC and Xbox One, and it’s heading to PlayStation 4 very soon.

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for a steady stream of Overwatch information, and we’ll see you on the battlefield.